US v. Afshari et al., United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, December 20, 2004 . Read the full text of the opinion here . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

Updating a story reported earlier today in JURIST's Paper Chase, a US State Department spokesman said Monday that the weekend auction sale of Russian oil giant Yukos' main production arm to satisfy back taxes in the face of a US bankruptcy court order eroded confidence in Russia's business, tax and court system. Richard Boucher said [...]

The Department of Defense announced Monday that according to a DOD panel a detainee held at Guantanamo Bay was wrongly classified as an enemy combatant and would be released soon. Navy Secretary Gordon England refused to identify the man or where he was from. The determination by a combatant status review tribunal sitting at Guantanamo [...]

Hungary became the second nation to ratify the European Constitution with a parliamentary vote Monday, only seven months after joining the EU. After Hungary's approval, 23 EU member states have yet to ratify the constitution, with a negative vote from any of them derailing the document. Approval is in question in the UK, the Netherlands, [...]

Defense lawyers for Saddam Hussein are preparing legal challenges to his upcoming war crimes trial to be filed in US courts, according to leaked memos. The Sunday Times reported that a brief titled "The Iraqi Special Tribunal as Victors’ Justice — the Inherent Illegality and Bias of the Whole Process" was prepared by leading UK [...]

KGW-TV in Portland is reporting that WA State Democrats have said the WA Supreme Court has agreed to hear an appeal over 700 disputed King County in a hand recount for the gubernatorial race. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports that WA Republicans have accused King County election officials of misleading the public about the disputed ballots. [...]

The US government has agreed to settle a class action brought by Hungarian Holocaust survivors over an estimated $200 million in jewelry, gold and other property that was seized by the US at the end of World War II but never returned to the rightful owners. Lawyers in the case announced Monday that a settlement [...]

Ukrainian opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko opened a 2-hour live TV debate Monday with rival and prime minister Viktor Yanukovych by accusing him of trying to steal the November 21 Ukrainian presidential election, which led to allegations of massive fraud and weeks of protests in Kyiv, resulting in the Ukrainian Supreme Court setting aside the result [...]

US-based rights monitoring group Freedom House said Monday in its annual report on human rights conditions in countries around the world that Russia had dropped into the category of "not free" in the wake of various authoritarian moves this past year by the government of President Vladimir Putin. FH Executive Director Jennifer Windsor said:Russia's step [...]

Anna Ryzhova, Kyiv: "Today, at noon under the EST time, Ukraine will be watching the nationally televised debate between Presidential candidates Victor Yushchenko and Victor Yanukovych. The debate this time is expected to be different from the previous one. A new format will allow for one-on-one Q&A and discussions between the two candidates. The revote [...]